Improvement in bleaching rubber, guttarpercha



* JOHN HELM, m, or new nnunswrcmnnw JERSEY.

- hirsute m WWMWHL UUIE'L- i f CATION or a acres, i3

IMPRQVEMENT lit BLEACHING RUBBER, GUTTR'fPERGHA, etc.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No, 115,202, dated May 23,1.871.

457, To all whom it may concern: fineness or in lamina, Thisprecipitatel then Be it known that I, JOHN HELM, Jr., of wash withwater, or first with a solution of New Brunswick, in the county ofMiddlesex alkali and afterward with water, and afterand State of NewJersey, have invented a ward dry, and when dry I press it into anynewand useful Improvement in the Manufacdesired shape in warm molds, inwhich it ture of India Itubber,Gutta-Percha, and their forms, as whentreated in the solid state, a allied Gums with Chlorine; and I do herebywhite hard mass, declare that the following is a full, clear, and Thetreatment of the gum with chlorineexact description of the same. waterin solution may be performed by trim- This invention consists in thetreatment of ration in a mortar, or by stirring in an appa- Indiarubber, gutta-percha, and their allied ratus like a washtub, butcovered, the latter gums for the production of hard compounds, beingpreferable for treatment in large quaneither in the solid state or insolution, and tities, though leaving'it in a laminar state, either aloneor mixed with other substances, and requiring it to be subsequentlyground in with chlorine-water or liquid chlorine, by some suitable mill-such, for instance, as a which means I am enabled to produce agrist-mill-into a line powder. During this cheaper compound, as Iobviate the waste of grinding the gum, in case of its not allhavchlorine which occurs by its escape when it ing been thoroughlycombined with chlorine, 1; is used in the gaseous state; and when themay be subjected to the action of chlorinegum is treated in solution Iam enabled to water, by which its combination will be per- 3; use thecheaper solventsyas benzine and gasfected, oline, In. case the gum betreated with liquid chlo- To treat the gum. in the solid or undissolvedrine the apparatus used must be so constructstate, I put it in smalllumps or thin sheets in ed as to permit the treatment to be performed asuitable vessel with chlorine-water, 0r chlounder a pressure of four orfive atmospheres, riue liquefied by pressure or other" means, orsufiicient to keep the chlorine in a liquid which. causes 'it to swelland turn to a white state, If the process be performed in this brittlemass, which, after washing with water way little or no stirring will beneeded, and dried, I press in molds of suitable form, Before thetreatment of the gum with the heated to from 125 to 212 Fahrenheit, inchlorine-water or liquid chlorine I usually which it forms a white hardmass. In case of mix with it some foreign matter-such, for inany freeacid having been formed in the gum stance, as oxide of zinc, Pariswhite, terra alby the treatment with the liquid chlorine or ba, groundglass, or lime-4'01: the purpose of chlorine-water it should, beforebeing washed cheapening the product or rendering it more With water, betreated to washing in an alkaor less dense, as maybe required, thequantity line-potash or sodasolution of suflioicnt of such foreignmatter being greater or lesser strength to neutralize the acid.according as a more or less dense product is When I treat the gum insolution I first desired, dissolve it in any of its well-known solvents,When the treatment is by chlorine-water preferably gasoline or benzine,on account of the water should be as nearly saturated as theircheapness, and in that state put it into practicable, and the quantitymay be from a suitable vessel with the liquid chlorine or twenty toforty gallons to every pound of chlorine-water, and stir or trituratethe whole gum, though these limits of quantity may not to bring allparticles of it in contact with the be absolutely essential to thesuccess of the chlorine, during which treatment the mass process, rbecomes gradually thicker by the solventleav- When the treatment is byliquid chlorine 1 ing the rubber as the chlorine combines with thequantity used may be about twelve ounces it until the compound of gumand chlorine of chlorine to the pound of gum, precipitates in. a whitepowder of more or less The product of this process may be varil ouslycolored by the addition of suitable 001- or other allied gums withchlorine in a liquid oring matters added to the solution before form orin solution. substantially as and for treating with the chlorine, ordyeing the powthe purpose herein described. der, after treatment withchlorine, with ani- 1 J OHN HELM' J R. line or other dyes.

What I claim as my invention, and desire Witnesses: to secure by LettersPatent, 115- FRED. HAYNES,

The treatmentof Indiarnbber, gutta-percha, R. E. RABEAU.

